Augmented Empire on Quest 3: A beautiful tactical RPG with a mixed reality mode
I played Augmented Empire on a Quest 3, and I'm happy to say that this is a successful comeback that left me wanting more.
Augmented Empire is a tactical role-playing game set in a cyberpunk scenario. It takes place in the year 2058 in the dystopian island city of Savannah, which is ruled and exploited by a wealthy elite.
Society is strictly hierarchical: The social rank of citizens is determined by a computer system on a scale of one to ten. The lower classes live in slums near sea level, while the upper classes reside in the lofty heights of a skyscraper city. Social advancement is difficult, if not impossible.
You take on the role of a criminal mastermind named Craven, who is planning a conspiracy against the existing social order from his hideout. Early on, you recruit the seemingly callous careerist Willa Thorne, who was on the verge of achieving the highest rank of citizen and almost godlike status, but fell out of favor with the regime when she chose to protect a loved one. With her help, you will assemble a team to carry out your subversive plans.
A classic tactical RPG
Initially, you control only Willa Thorne, and later a team of six playable and very different characters.
The 60 diorama-like environments can be freely explored, only during battles the game switches to a turn-based mode in which you move your characters tactically across the field using defensive or offensive abilities. Between missions, you can buy items and learn new skills for your characters or improve existing ones.
However, these systems are not very deep, so do not expect a Triangle Strategy or anything like that. On the other hand, Augmented Empire is very accessible and can be recommended to newcomers to the genre or VR.
Augmented Empire was originally released for Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Go in 2017 and 2018, and is making a comeback on Meta Quest on November 21, 2024.
Development studio Coatsink (Shadow Point, Jurassic World Aftermath) has improved the resolution, textures and lighting, and added support for 6DoF controllers, hand tracking and mixed reality. I played the new Augmented Empire for a few hours on Meta Quest 3 and can say that the port is a success.
Better graphics, same game
There are several ways to view the environments: You can place them on a table or other surface, or have them as a resizable floating diorama right in front of you. Passthrough mode lets you see the physical environment and not much else. Thanks to Meta Quest's lying mode, you can comfortably play Augmented Empire while lying down.
Visually, the game is a stunner, with a beautiful art style and influences from art deco, cyberpunk and film noir. Using the Quest Games Optimizer, you can significantly increase the resolution on Quest 3 to get a crisp image. Augmented Empire also has a lot to offer narratively, with a compelling story world conveyed through atmospheric environments, strong characters, and witty dialogue.
The game's biggest flaw is that it is too easy and, at ten hours, much shorter than desired. It would have been nice if Coatsink had expanded the content of Augmented Empire and made it a bit more challenging. But if you like tactical RPGs, story-driven games and cyberpunk dystopias, you can pick it up without hesitation.
Augmented Empire will be released on November 21 in the Horizon Store. Meta Quest 3S, 3, 2 and Pro are supported.
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